Like Fireworks
by unicorndustandllamas
Summary: Tragedy strikes, and Rachel and Quinn take the opportunity to swap confessions. Based on episode 3x14. ONESHOT.


**A/N: Well, here I am trying my hand at writing faberry! This is just a little oneshot inspired by episode 3x14. Hope you enjoy and please review!**

The first thing you're conscious of is a faint and steady beeping to your right. Or is it your left? You can't really tell, you're too out of it. The next thing is the smell. It's the smell of sterility. Wherever you are, it's clean, too clean. The last thing you're aware of is that you can't open your eyes. Well, you could, but not without difficultly. You have a splitting headache, and you notice that even the slightest movement of your eyes causes the pain to intensify. The headache is the only pain you feel, though, the rest of your body is completely numb.

You try and remember what you were doing before you entered this state of darkness and confusion. Your brain is much too exhausted to think quickly, so it takes awhile before images of a small red Volkswagen, a nearly deserted road, and shattering glass pop into your head. You think of the last text you sent: "on my way." Wherever you'd been going, you're definitely not on your way anymore.

A crash. Yeah, that's it. You had taken your eyes off the road for a couple of seconds. Of course, with your luck, a couple of seconds was just enough time for an oncoming truck to ram violently right into the left side of your car. Meaning you must be in a hospital now.

Now you remember where you'd been going, and if you hadn't been frantic before, you're really worried now. You'd been on you way to witness your friend Rachel get married. And it isn't so much that you've missed the wedding of one of your best friends that upsets you, it's that you hadn't been there to stop it. To that degree, you're not just against the wedding because it's absolutely insane for Rachel to be marrying her high school boyfriend. You're also against it because you have some feelings you haven't quite sorted out yet, and if Rachel is married, it won't matter whether you sort them out or not because it would be too late to act on them.

You wonder if she knows- not that you have feelings for her, although you wonder that too- that you're not going to her wedding. That instead you're here, in this too clean hospital with an annoying beep interrupting your thoughts and a terrible headache. You wonder who found you on that deserted road, and what kind of hideous, mangled, bloody mess of a body they found lying unconscious in the pile of dented metal and shards of glass.

You imagine Rachel in her white gown that you'd helped her pick out, sitting in her dressing room staring blankly at that text you'd sent her, assuring her that you were on your way. Now you wish you knew where your phone is so you could let her know that you won't be able to make it. You think it's probably no use anyway, Rachel and Finn are most likely already wed and riding off into the sunset in Finn's car with a banner that says 'Just Married' taped to the back window.

A sharp pain suddenly shoots through your body and you can finally feel the full effect of the car crash. Whatever painkillers the doctors had given you have worn off. You close your eyes tighter and a low groan escapes your chapped lips just as a nurse steps in. You open your eyes just barely, and you can see the petite woman looking at you sympathetically. The nurse asks you if you need more medicine, and you give a shaky nod in reply.

The nurse leaves for a few moments and returns with a small bottle of pills and a cup of water. She approaches your bedside, pops a capsule into your mouth and makes you swallow it with the water. As soon as the nurse leaves the room, you start to feel drowsy. You sigh softly and allow yourself to fall into a fitful sleep.

The next time you drift into consciousness, you hear a light shuffling of feet that gradually gets closer. You manage to crack one eye open, with less difficulty than when you had first woken up, and then you know that that crash must have killed you because you see an angel in white hesitantly step forward through the entrance to the room you're in. As the blurry figure slowly focuses, you realize it's not an angel - although it's pretty close in your opinion - but Rachel, still in her wedding dress and terribly red-eyed, probably from crying. Although it pains you to see this angel cry, your heart can't help but become lighter at the thought that she's been worried about you, so much that she had been crying. She doesn't notice that your eye is cracked the slightest bit so that you can see her. After a minute or two - there's no way for you to tell how much time has passed - Rachel rests her shaky hands gently on the foot of your bed and begins to try to form a sentence. Your eye becomes tired of being even slightly open and you close it again, breathing steadily so that Rachel will think you're asleep.

"Q-Quinn" Rachel finally manages to choke out, and you're even happier now because not only has she said your name, but she's said it with such raw emotion, and you love that she cares so much about you now. "This is all my fault. I never should have sent those texts to you while you were driving..."

Her words are laced with choked sobs, and you can tell by her voice that tears are already racing down her beautiful face. You think about what she's just said. You don't blame her for what happened. You had been stupid enough to look away from the road as you came near an intersection. "Please be okay, Quinn. Please wake up." Rachel is crying even harder now, and she doesn't seem to have the strength to say anything more. You can't hold your own emotions in any longer as you listen to her quietly weep, so you give up on your sleeping charade and open your eyes.

"Rachel," you say to get her attention. Your voice sounds terrible; it's hoarse and rough from sleep and disuse. She looks up at you through her tear-filled eyelashes and a smile graces her pretty lips.

"Quinn," she whispers, "you're awake." She begins to lunge forward, most likely to hug you, but stops herself when she realizes that physical contact would hurt you. Not that you'd mind a bit of pain if it meant having her arms wrapped securely around you.

All you do in reply is beam brightly at her. You can't really find the words to say, so the two of you end up staring at each other for a moment before Rachel looks away shyly. You smile again because she's blushing and it's the most adorable thing you've ever seen.

Finally, you decide to speak up. "How was the wedding?" It's the only thing you can get yourself to say to her right now. Rachel bites her bottom lip and looks down at nothing in particular on the floor. She can't seem to meet your eyes as she confesses, "There... was no wedding." She doesn't look sad, just upset in general, and maybe even a bit ashamed. You know it's horrible of you, but you're trying so hard not to break into a huge smile because she hadn't married Finn. For some reason, there hadn't been a wedding and you're trying not to look as elated as you feel. Instead, you make your face look shocked, looking at Rachel expectantly.

It doesn't take any words for Rachel to know that you want her to continue explaining. " It's just that... you hadn't shown up yet, and I didn't want to start the wedding without you, and Finn got angry.." She's speaking frantically now; she's talking so fast that you know she's panicking. "And then- god- my dads, they told me you had been in an accident, and I had to be here to make sure you were okay."

She had stopped the wedding for you. This is unbelievable. You smile at her with the smile that you reserve just for her as she calms herself down. You're still thinking of what to say, and finally you decide to be honest. "Well, to be honest, I'm glad that you didn't go through with the wedding. It... it was a mistake." Now Rachel is looking at you with an expression you can't quite decode. "Quinn…" she begins, "Why didn't you want me to marry Finn? I mean, I know it's because we're too young and he'd be holding me back from achieving my dreams and all that...but I feel like there's another reason. Something you're not telling me."

Shit. Now you're sure she's suspicious about how you really feel about her. You look down and try to devise a plan, anything to get you out of telling her the truth, but nothing comes to mind. And maybe it's because you're high on pain meds, or maybe you're just sick and tired of lying to yourself and to her, but you decide to take the plunge.

And then suddenly, you're blurting out that you love her, that you couldn't stand to watch her marry someone else, someone that isn't you. She just stands there, staring at you contemplatively as you pour your emotions out to her and tears start to stain your face. Once you're done with your confessional speech, there is nothing but silence. Rachel doesn't race to your bedside to press feverish kisses along your jaw and whisper that she loves you back. She doesn't cup your face in her hands and smile at you lovingly before connecting her lips with yours. Instead, there is only you, lying helpless in your hospital bed, and her, standing on the other side of the room, looking down with her brows furrowed.

You feel like a fool for even believing that somehow, Rachel Berry loved you back. She had been planning on getting married to Finn; why on earth would she have felt something more than friendship for you if she had decided to give her heart completely to someone else? Any happiness or hope that you had felt when Rachel first walked into your room is all but gone now. You don't know for sure, but it has definitely been many minutes since anyone has said a word and now you are just waiting for Rachel to turn on her heels and dash through the door behind her.

Once again, you're proven wrong. She doesn't run away. Instead she shuffles over to the lone chair by the window and sits. You know that's she's still deep in thought, but you wish she would say something, anything.

"You… love me?" she says after a long pause. She chuckles lightly as she says it, as if she doesn't believe you. You don't blame her, though, considering you spent your first two years of high school personally tormenting her.

You nod, and you feel more confident to speak now. "Well, I guess I've always taken an interest in you. First it was because I was jealous of you. Of your talent. Of the fact that Finn paid more attention to you than he did his own girlfriend." You're blushing already, and you know it will just get worse as you continue this speech that you're determined to finish. "Then there was that time I tried to become your friend to make sure Finn didn't cheat on me with you…" You look up at Rachel as you finish your sentence, and the expression on her face tells you that she's thinking the same thing: everything had always been about Finn. But you forget that for now and continue. "After a while, I realized how much you cared about me. Every time something went wrong or… I screwed something up, it was always you that helped me, that led me in the right direction. When I was pregnant, when I lost prom queen, when I became a skank, when I almost got Shelby fired… you always had some kind of speech prepared to make sure I didn't do anything I would regret later."

Rachel smiles at this, and you think you see a light blush on her cheeks. "You're my friend, Quinn. I may be selfish sometimes- well, maybe a lot of the time- but what I want more than anything, maybe even more than being a star, is for my friends to be happy." Her brown eyes are alight with intensity, just as they always are when she's giving a speech.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me, because I'm happy whenever I'm with you," you mumble, but Rachel still hears it and looks up to smile at you.

You're about to say something else when Rachel suddenly pipes up. "Do you want to know the truth, Quinn?" You raise an eyebrow. The truth? About what? Rachel takes your puzzled look as a yes. "I… I really like you, Quinn. I know we've… clashed in the past, but I've always thought you were an amazing girl. I mean, it wasn't like a crush or anything… well, at first it wasn't." Now your heart is racing. Is Rachel saying what you think she's saying? "I don't know… I always knew that 'perfect blonde mean girl cheerleader' thing was just an act. Once I caught a glimpse of the real you, the fragile, brilliant, caring Quinn, I… I suppose I just really liked the idea of having you around." Rachel is blushing just as furiously as you are now.

You really can't say anything. There is nothing you could say that would make sense of what you've just heard. Rachel Barbra Berry just implied that she has a crush on you. It's not exactly love, but you're still floating on cloud nine because this is a million times better than any result you'd ever expected out of this.

Now the two of you are dead silent, blatantly staring at each other for several moments. Then all of a sudden you think you must be magnetic, because Rachel is practically floating towards you. She rests her hand gently on top of one of yours and laces your fingers together. You can feel your breath shortening and your pulse speeding up as Rachel's face leans in dangerously close to yours.

You can feel Rachel's breath on your lips as she whispers, "The reason I wanted to wait for you to get to the wedding was because I had the tiniest hope that you'd stop it."

A grin creeps onto your lips. "Somehow, I still succeeded." you say, and then all at once, Rachel's lips have lowered down to yours in a chaste kiss. Rachel pulls away for the briefest second and smiles at you before enthusiastically reconnecting your lips.

You really can't believe this is happening; Rachel is kissing you, and you can smell her light perfume and taste her lips- they taste like strawberries and vanilla- and your head is spinning. You're both beginning to lose yourself in the kiss; Rachel nips at your bottom lip lightly and you lose it. The slide of her lips against yours is too much, it's already like an addiction to you. Soon your tongues are dancing gracefully, and you can't help but feel like they were made to do this because it feels so perfect.

Finally, the both of you need to take a breath, and Rachel pulls away ever so slowly. You feel like a balloon that's been let go and is floating away, slowly disappearing into the clouds, but the sudden weight of Rachel's forehead resting against yours keeps you grounded.

"How was that?" Rachel asks simply, placing her hand securely behind your head, her forehead still touching yours and your breaths mingling. You sigh happily and smile widely up at her.

"Like fireworks."


End file.
